


Magic Number

by kittys_devil



Series: Hurt_Comfort Bingo [8]
Category: Bandom, Frank Iero (Musician), My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Substance Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-25
Updated: 2011-09-25
Packaged: 2017-10-24 01:19:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/257273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittys_devil/pseuds/kittys_devil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gerard always has knows the magic number. It keeps him from going too far.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Magic Number

**Author's Note:**

> Warning for drug and alcohol abuse. Thanks to my wonderful beta buffinator_1 for everything.
> 
> Written for hurt_comfort bingo, abuse square.
> 
> I don't own the boys, just the story line.
> 
>  **Link to[~Master List~](http://kittys-devil.livejournal.com/13721.html)**

One.

One is the magic number in Gerard’s head. 

One is the difference between losing his mind and being able to cope with the stress. 

It’s just a cigarette what harm will it do anyway right? He quit once, one more is not going to kill him. 

Until it is two weeks later and he can’t get out of the studio fast enough. He is craving the nicotine like he never has before. He needs it like he needs to breath. The one that he thought would just be one has quickly turned into a pack a day if not more. 

It helps, having that slim stick between his lips, the smoke filling his lungs as he lets the stress of the world slip away. He has forgotten how much he needed this, longed for this feeling that he has right now. 

Yes, life can’t get much better than this.

~*~

Two.

Two is the magic number in Gerard’s head.

Two is the difference between being uptight and being free and relaxed.

It’s just two drinks. It won’t hurt anyone and Gerard can stop at any time. He quit once, he can do it again. 

But Gerard can’t stop at just two. He drinks and drinks until he is passed out and Mikey has to haul his ass home. 

The next morning his hangover is more than he can deal with. He sleeps until late in the afternoon. When he wakes up and his head is still throbbing. Gerard knows there is one thing that will make it all better. He shuffles to the kitchen, unlocks the booze cabinet and lets the burn of the alcohol take the head ache away. 

But he can stop at any time. 

~*~

Three.

Three is the magic number in Gerard’s head. 

Three is the difference between being high strung and being mellow.

It’s not like he is going to smoke the entire joint himself. He is here with some guys. Frank he thinks. No, not his Frank, Fred or Floyd maybe? And some other guy. Mitchel maybe? Shit, it’s not important. They had the drugs and Gerard had the place. He was high strung and stressed. The cigarettes were just not cutting it tonight. 

So he lights up the first joint and takes a hit before passing it to one of the others. And after three hits and that one is gone they light up another one. 

Maybe the magic number is three joints and not three hits. 

Gerard stops after the three joints. He doesn’t remember passing out. But he wakes up with two bodies sprawled across his bed next to him. 

And quickly that becomes the norm in his life. Gerard and his two new best buds that will drink and smoke with him. 

But he still knows he can stop at any time.

~*~

Four.

Four is the magic number in Gerard’s head. 

Four is the difference between lying in bed all day and moving. 

It started with the bottle of pain pills he found in the medicine cabinet from when Mikey sprained his ankle. At first it was just one and he was able to get out of bed. But the one changed to two pretty quickly. 

And if two worked then three would work even better right? That was about the time that Gerard was calling up his old dealer looking for more and more. He needed pain pills, he needed something strong. 

The new stuff was better. He was floating by the time they kicked in. But two weeks later he was not getting that buzz before he got out of bed. Gerard knew if three worked then four would work even better. 

Gerald climbed out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom he felt the buzz in his body. He knew that four was the magic number.

~*~

Five.

Five was the magic number in Frank’s head. 

Five is the difference between a Gerard he knows and the man before him now. 

It’s not like Frank wants to be doing this. But he has been avoiding and ignoring. He has been hoping that he was not seeing what was right before his eyes. But when Gerard didn’t call for three days and didn’t show up for practice he rushed over to his house. 

Frank found Gerard passed out with the alcohol bottles and pill bottles littering his room. And at that moment Frank knew he didn’t have a choice. 

He wakes Gerald up, gets his ass coffee and in the shower. And when Frank is sure that Gerard is sober and awake enough he starts. 

“Five Gee. Five days is all you have. You either stop alone or go to rehab. But either way if you are like this after five days I’m leaving and never coming back. I will be here for you if you stop. But I can’t be here if you don’t. I can’t do this again, Gee.”

So when Gerard checks in to rehab across the country he knows. 

Five was the magic number to keep his love.

  



End file.
